Conventional indoor television antennas generally include two antennas, a loop antenna for UHF reception and a telescopic antenna for VHF reception. Typically, in such a setup, the UHF loop antenna is paired with a 4:1 balun to match the input impedance of the antenna to that of an amplifier and also to convert a balanced antenna output to an unbalanced amplifier input. Further, although a UHF loop antenna will typically boost received signals by some amount, the television receiver will not receive these enhanced signals because the balun attenuates them somewhat. For example, if the gain of the UHF antenna is about 2 dBi and the signal loss due to the balun is 2 dB, the net signal gain is zero. Further, television signals received by UHF and VHF antennas are usually diplexed before they are transmitted to an amplifier. Filters in the diplexer may further attenuate the signal.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a conventional indoor television antenna system 100. The system 100 includes two antennas, a 7.5 inch diameter UHF loop antenna 102 and a VHF telescopic antenna 104. The loop antenna 102 receives a UHF signal and boosts it by about 2 dBi. The loop antenna output signal 106 is balanced and has an impedance of about 300 ohms as it is passed to a 4:1 balun 108. The 4:1 balun 108 unbalances and reduces the impedance so that an output signal 110 is unbalanced and has an impedance of about 75 ohms. Further, the 4:1 balun 108 attenuates the antenna output signal 106 by about 2 dB as it passes through.
The telescopic antenna 104 receives and sends a balanced VHF signal to a 1:1 balun 112. The 1:1 balun outputs an unbalanced output signal 114. The UHF output signal 110 and the VHF output signal 114 are then passed, through a diplexer 116, where the UHF signal is attenuated further by a high-pass filter. The unbalanced signals 110 and 114 are then passed through an unbalanced amplifier 118 that is powered by a power injector 120. Finally, the UHF and VHF signals are received by a television receiver 122. Because of the signal loss inherent in the television antenna system 100, the television picture produced by the UHF signal is often not entirely satisfactory.
While existing devices, for example those described above, have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. The embodiments of the present disclosure overcome one or more of the shortcomings of the prior art.